By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information Coordinator
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – An overwhelming shade of purple and gold draped the stage at this year's Ohio Valley Conference awards dinner, as the Tennessee Tech tennis team claimed a plethora of the conference's most coveted honors. Not only did Tech place four on the All-OVC first or second team, but for the third-straight year, the Golden Eagles swept the league's top tier awards of Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Coach of the Year.
For the second-straight season Eduardo Mena was named the OVC's Player of the Year, while Marc Mila took down co-Freshman of the Year honors, sharing the award with Belmont's Vincent Sterkens and Hendrik Inno. Kenny Doyle was recognized as the league's Coach of the Year, hoisting the accolade for the third campaign in a row and fifth time in his eight seasons at the helm of Tech tennis.
Mena also reserved a spot on the All-OVC first team alongside Marcos Bernardes and Alberto Esteban, as the trio assembled to make up the only school on the prestigious list with more than one All-OVC first team selection, and marked the second-consecutive year TTU has had three first teamers. Guillermo Nicolas found himself on the All-OVC second team, rounding out an evening that saw Tech capture seven different awards.
Thursday's awards dinner kicks off the most important weekend of the year for OVC tennis, with the conference's top six teams in Nashville to take aim in the OVC Tournament for the right to clinch a spot in the NCAA Tournament. After rolling out its second-straight undefeated conference campaign, the Golden Eagles march into playoff field as the No. 1 seed, advancing straight to the semifinals with a first round bye already in their back pocket.
Tech will await the winner of Belmont and Austin Peay, squaring off with the victor in a Saturday semifinal at 2 p.m. CT from the Centennial Sportsplex.
Junior Eduardo Mena, the nation's 60th ranked player, continues to stake his claim as one of the best players in TTU history with his second-straight OVC Player of the Year award after winning the league's Freshman of the Year honor back in 2015. The Bultrago del Lozoya, Spain native went 15-2, all out of the No. 1 slot, this spring and heads into the OVC Tournament on an 11-match winning streak.
Mena becomes the third-straight Golden Eagle, and fourth in the last five years, to hoist the Player of the Year award following Alex Arovin's 2015 honor and Syrym Abdukhalikov's 2013 nod. Since 1975, Tech has seized 13 Player of the Year awards.
Dating back to the fall, Mena's 20 singles victories gives the 6-foot-junior his third-consecutive 20-win campaign, a year after setting the Tennessee Tech record with 33 overall victories. Ranked as high as No. 55 in the country this season, Mena rolled through another OVC slate with a second-straight undefeated conference campaign, moving his career OVC singles record to 22-1 in three seasons in purple and gold.
In non-conference action, the resume proved to be just as robust, taking down four nationally ranked opponents throughout the year with wins over Texas Techs Jolan Caileau (No. 30), UT's Timo Stodder (No. 35), North Florida's Jack Findel-Hawkins (No. 66) and Louisville's Christoper Morin-Kougoucheff (No. 114).
Junior Marcos Bernardes earned his spot on the All-OVC first team after dominating out of the No. 2 position in Tech's lineup, while also proving to be TTU's most formidable doubles player. Overall, the Brasilia, Brazil native went 10-5 in singles action during the spring, highlighted by a 9-3 record out of the No. 2 spot. In OVC play, Bernardes joined Mena as the only Golden Eagles to go 6-0, improving his career conference singles mark to an impressive 14-1 throughout his two-year Tech tenure.
In doubles play, Bernardes paced TTU with a 9-4 record, going a perfect 4-0 out of the No. 2 slot.
Senior Alberto Esteban reaches rarified air with this year's All-OVC first team selection, joining Larry Barr (1968-71) as just the second Golden Eagle all time to earn four All-OVC accolades throughout his career. This season's reservation for Esteban marks the third on the first-team, also claiming a second-team distinction in 2015.
The Madrid, Spain native solidified Tech's No. 3 spot in the singles lineup, rolling out an 8-4 record out of that part of the order. In OVC play, Esteban went 5-1 and was one of two Tech players to go a perfect 4-0 in the OVC doubles circuit, helping lead the Golden Eagles to their fifth regular season championship in the last six years and third with the 6-foot senior on the squad.
Sophomore Guillermo Nicolas makes it back-to-back years with postseason hardware behind a spot on the All-OVC second-team, following the Villanueva de la Canada, Spain native's rookie campaign that saw him take down the OVC Freshman of the Year honor as well as a spot on the first-team. With a 5-0 OVC singles resume this spring, Nicolas has still yet to drop a conference clash with a perfect 14-0 mark in his two-year career.
Overall, the 6-foot sophomore went 9-2 this season, all out of the No. 4 spot, and heads into the OVC Tournament on a seven-match heater. In doubles action, Nicolas produced Tech's second-best record with an 8-3 overall mark, going an unblemished 4-0 in OVC play.
Marc Mila's co-Freshman of the Year accolade continues an impressive streak of Golden Eagle rookies to win the award, as Tech claims the honor for the seventh time since 2007 and third-straight after Nicolas seized it last year and Mena back in 2015.
Mila was a force to be reckoned with in OVC action with a 5-1 singles record, providing TTU with punch at the bottom of the lineup with a 3-1 mark out of the No. 6 spot. In conference doubles play, the Barcelona, Spain native mirrored his success with victories in three-of-four OVC battles.
Kenny Doyle is recognized as the OVC Coach of the Year for the third-straight season after helping guide Tech to its fifth regular season championship in the last six years, and the fourth undefeated conference campaign over that stretch. Under his watch, the Golden Eagles have won 23-straight OVC matches, a streak that has spanned over two calendar years.
The latest Coach of the Year accolade is the fifth for Doyle in eight seasons in charge of TTU tennis, and with the Campbell graduate at the helm, Tech boasts an eye-popping .806 winning percentage in conference play thanks to a 58-14 career OVC record.
With TTU back in the OVC Tournament as the No. 1 seed, the Golden Eagles will be in search of their second-consecutive championship and accompanying appearance in the NCAA Tournament after winning the title last season. Overall, Tech has won the OVC Tournament eight times.
Photo by Tony Marable
